Mind-blindness can be described as an inability to develop an awareness of what is in the mind of another human. It is not necessarily caused by an inability to imagine an answer, but is often due to not being able to gather enough information to work out which of the many possible answers is correct.

Much of the information is gathered by reading body language and so a person with pervasive developmental disorders such as autism or Asperger syndrome would be at least partially mind-blind due to their inability to read, or impairment in reading, body language.

Courses that teach how to read body language are available. It has been suggested that these can reduce the degree to which mind-blindness is present.

References

• Geoffrey Cowley, "Understanding Autism," Newsweek, July 31, 2000
• Simon Baron-Cohen, "First lessons in mind reading," The Times Higher Education Supplement, July 16, 1995

Nonverbal communication | Social psychology | Sociology | Special education | Autism